Museums

Grand County Museums

GRAND COUNTY MUSEUM

The Pioneer Village at the Grand County Museum takes visitors through early Grand County as it appeared in the late 19th and early 20th century. The site was listed in Reader’s Digest’s top 21 museum tours of America.

A restored 19th century courthouse explores Grand County’s early government. The simple structure, once used as Hot Sulphur Springs’ general store, looks exactly like it did during its period of operation from 1889 to 1902. While visiting the courthouse, visitors will enjoy the “Wild West” tale of the “Grand Lake Massacre” in 1883 and view the blood stained papers carried by one of the victims of that event.

The schoolhouse provides an accurate depiction of the way one-room schoolhouses operated in the early 20th century. From its rough-hewn log exterior to its pot-bellied stove and authentic desks, blackboards, and period books; the old schoolhouse takes the young and old alike on a journey through the fading past.

As one of the visitor’s favorite stops, the 1897 jail offers a look at the realities of prisons 100 years ago. Especially interesting is the preserved graffiti that was written during the jail’s period of operation from 1897 to 1937.

Both the blacksmith shop and the ranch house take you back to a time when pioneers baked their own food, sewed their own clothes, and depended on the local smithy to repair tools and wagons. Don’t miss the Pioneer Village at the Grand County Museum — It’s where history comes alive. Call 970-725-3939 for more information.

STAGE STOP MUSEUM AT COZENS RANCH

The Stage Stop Museum and Theater at Cozens Ranch re-creates the experiences of early travelers along the stagecoach routes of the American West. The museum galleries are housed in a restored 1870s stage stop and feature a full-sized replica of the 1880s “mud-wagons” that carried passengers into the Rocky Mountain West.

This unique site, on the National Register of Historic Places, hosts monthly living history theater performances in the Stage Stop Theater. Held in the dining room that was built by proprietor and ex-lawman William Zane Cozens, the shows feature the Grand County Characters as they provide an accurate interpretation of the development of Grand County, Colorado and the American West.

Six museum galleries within the structure focus on various local history themes from the early formation of the Berthoud Pass Wagon Road and the everyday life of high country pioneers to Grand County’s famous
pioneer doctor, Susan Anderson.

The Stage Stop Museum at Cozens Ranch provides a real treat for those interested in the transportation of the American West. Re-member, history is alive at Grand County’s Museums. Call 970-726-5488 for information.

KAUFFMAN HOUSE

For a trip through Grand Lake history, visit The Kauffman House, the last remaining hotel of three that once graced the shores of Grand Lake. Built on two lake shore lots in 1892 by Ezra Kauffman, the house is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places because of its log architecture and because its first owner was a typical example of the men who came West — drawn by mining, trapping, fishing and tourist phases of the local community.

The Grand Lake Historical Society purchased the Kauffman House in 1973, with the preservation and restoration of the building as its primary objective. Today, the Kauffman House is a restored house museum, open to the public every day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the summer season from Memorial Day to Labor Day.